The Music of One Tree Hill: It All Started with A Song

There is no “One Tree Hill” fan like the OTH music fan; someone with the ear to pick up the tone, melody, and feel of a song as it softy plays behind the dialogue you can’t miss a second of. It’s the fans like them, those so invested in this show, that I believe have kept the series running for as long as it has. The best part of all is that I think all fans of the show are One Tree Hill music fans — and that’s why OTH-Music.com was created.

The opening moment of the show is what I want to put focus on — because from the first second… We were caught up with both. It was the song “Drift” by Forty Foot Echo that opened the series as Nathan Scott tried to impress his father Dan during a Tree Hill Ravens game and Peyton Sawyer, ever the musical junkie, nearly ran down a jogging Lucas Scott with her car as she tried to change a CD.

Ah, the days before iPod. There isn’t anything I don’t love about this song; it had all the makings of an OTH heavy-hitter. The opening finger tapping beats to gear up the scene as Lucas dribbles his basketball in the iconic scene across the bridge at sunset, the rock guitar sound hits as Peyton’s face is first seen in her car and the soft buildup of vocals as Nathan gears up for the game. The massive boom of the chorus comes right as the scene immediately switches to Nathan killing it at the game and Peyton cheering on the sidelines.

In that moment it clicked. We have a show about frictional relationships, the non-typical girls, tons of drama, really hot looking people, and good music. This happened in a minute and a half, and has continued for nearly 200 episodes. That is “One Tree Hill”. You connected from the beginning and never stopped.

If you’re feeling nostalgic, you go back and watch the episode. If you haven’t downloaded “Drift” by Forty Foot Echo yet, go forth, rock out, and enjoy this One Tree Hill memory. I’ll see you next week with another One Tree Hill memorable musical moment.